Toronto Star
Refugee claim backlog soars in first quarter

44 adjudicator jobs go unfilled, as Conservatives `hijack' immigration board, critic says
Apr 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Joan Bryden
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA–Canada's backlog of refugee claims almost doubled in the first quarter of 2007 as the Harper government continued to drag its feet on filling vacancies at the Immigration and Refugee Board.

As of March 31, the effective backlog, based on 26,164 pending claims stood at 6,164 – up from 3,495 at the end of 2006.

Over the same period, the number of adjudicators available to hear claims actually declined by one, while the average length of time to process a claim rose slightly to 12.6 months from 12.3.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power just over a year ago, there were only five vacancies on the 119-member, quasi-judicial board. That grew to 18 by last July, to 43 by the end of last year and to 44 today.

The board has grappled with backlogs before. Indeed, 2005 was a banner year in which, for the first time in a decade, the backlog was essentially reduced to zero.

But board spokesperson Melissa Anderson said it is "significant" to see the backlog grow by almost 3,000 claims in only three months.

"Our previous backlog took a while to kind of build, really, and it was driven primarily by large, significant increases in new claims," she said.

"Whereas this time, what's quite different is really the number of refugee claimants hasn't gone up very significantly ... It's being driven this time, sort of internally, essentially through the lack of members (to hear claims)."

Mike Fraser, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Diane Finley, said 39 adjudicators have been appointed to the IRB since the Conservatives took office. A new chair and vice-chair also have been named and the government is "moving forward with a national search for candidates."

Fraser noted the government commissioned an independent review of refugee board appointments and is implementing the resulting recommendations. Among other things, all new board members will have to pass a written exam.

The so-called reforms also give the minister more say in the choice of adjudicators. Critics fear that change will politicize appointments.

Liberal immigration critic Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale) said in an interview the Conservatives appear to be deliberately dawdling, "hijacking IRB for their own political benefit, whether to appoint their friends or whether to impose their ideology."

Alghabra said it means legitimate refugees are in limbo longer – an injustice to them and an increased financial burden on the state which provides health, education and social assistance until claims are settled. Also, bogus refugees get to stay longer, with potential implications for Canadian security.

Australia and US to swap refugees
Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Wednesday April 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Asylum seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Australia are to be sent to the United States under a controversial refugee-swapping scheme designed to deter illegal migrants.
Under the plan announced by Australia's immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, some of the boat people picked up in international waters off the coast of Australia will be re-settled halfway around the world.

In exchange, Australia will accept asylum seekers currently being held in detention at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, mostly Cubans and Haitians who have also been intercepted at sea.

The agreement between the two countries, ratified in Washington last week, will involve each country processing about 200 of each others refugees a year.

Commenting on the scheme in a radio interview, Australia's prime minister, John Howard, who has a famously tough stance on illegal immigration, claimed it would deter people smuggling.

"I think people who want to come to Australia will be deterred by anything that sends a message that getting to the Australian mainland illegally is not going to happen," he said.

The opposition Labour party criticised the plan. The party's leader, Kevin Rudd, said the policy would simply establish Australia as a halfway house for asylum seekers wanting to reach the United States.

Refugee organizations expressed outrage at the scheme, saying it would be cruel to resettle asylum seekers in countries where they have no cultural connections.

Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said: "This is not a container load of washing machines that we've decided to reject. These are human beings.

"They're our responsibility and this policy is shredding the United Nations refugee convention."

The first group to go to the US will probably be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese people, who were picked up in unseaworthy wooden boats in February and who have since been detained on the Pacific island of Nauru, where Australia processes some of its asylum seekers.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Le Canada est invité à ouvrir ses portes aux Irakiens
Claude Lévesque
Le Devoir, Édition du mardi 17 avril 2007

À la veille d'une conférence internationale sur le sujet à Genève, le Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés (CCR) et plusieurs organismes communautaires locaux demandent au Canada d'ouvrir plus grandes ses portes aux Irakiens ayant fui leur pays dévasté par la guerre.

« Nous sommes atterrés de constater que le Canada n'a ouvert ses portes jusqu'à maintenant qu'à très peu de réfugiés irakiens, même si de nombreux Canadiens ont présenté des offres de parrainage », a déploré hier la présidente du CCR, Elizabeth McWeeny.

Selon cette organisation, le Canada n'a pris « aucun engagement concret » pour répondre à la crise qui a provoqué l'exode de près de quatre millions d'Irakiens, dont la moitié dans les pays voisins.

Le CCR demande notamment au Canada d'augmenter le nombre de réfugiés bénéficiant d'un parrainage gouvernemental. « Cela fait partie de sa responsabilité internationale », note Janet Dench, directrice du CCR.

Au ministère de l'Immigration et de la Citoyenneté, on indique, de faççon assez générale, que le Canada « projette en 2007 de réinstaller 2140 réfugiés du Moyen-Orient, dont une partie importante seront des ressortissants irakiens ». Vu la situation en Irak, le Canada pourrait en accueillir 500 de plus, a indiqué une porte-parole du ministère.

Ce nombre inclut vraisemblablement les réfugiés parrainés par le gouvernement et les parrainages privés et ne se limite pas à l'Irak.

Se basant sur les informations fournies par sept groupes communautaires irakiens du Canada, le Conseil canadien des réfugiés affirme d'autre part que les demandes de parrainage privé (présentées par ces groupes ou par des familles) sont trop souvent refusées.

Le CCR a décrit hier dans un communiqué plusieurs cas de refus au consulat canadien à Damas (qui couvre aussi bien la Jordanie que la Syrie), dont celui d'une famille dont une fille avait été enlevée et tuée à Bagdad en février 2005.

« Dans le passé, comme il l'a fait pour les missions de maintien de la paix, le Canada s'était montré parmi les pays les plus actifs. Ainsi en 1999, il comptait parmi les plus enthousiastes pour accueillir les réfugiés du Kosovo », a noté Janet Dench.

En remontant plus loin, on se rappellera que le Canada s'était aussi montré très accueillant envers les boat people vietnamiens, et qu'il a reççu en 1986 la Récompense Nansen du Haut Commissariat des nations pour les réfugiés (HCR).

Le CCR trouve également trop longue la procédure de traitement des demandes d'asile au consulat du Canada à Damas. Le resserrement des règles visant le renouvellement des permis de séjour en Syrie et en Jordanie, où se trouvent la majorité des réfugiés irakiens, fait planer sur ces derniers la menace d'une expulsion vers leur pays d'origine.

Le Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés, qui misait jusqu'alors sur une amélioration de la situation en Irak, multiplie depuis l'an dernier les appels à la communauté internationale en faveur des réfugiés irakiens, dont un retour en toute sécurité dans leur pays devient de plus en plus incertain.